Rabbit’s Spectacles
Everyone in class was given a chance to read the lesson out loud, by the class teacher, Ms. Owl. Monkey was very good at reading. Tortoise was a little slow because he was always very careful and paid a lot of attention to whatever he did. But the slowest in class was Rabbit. He took a long time to read. Rabbit was slow for a reason that no one else knew about.
Rabbit couldn’t see the letters on his book very clearly. When he tried to read, the letters looked as if they were smudged. So it always took Rabbit some time to identify the letters and then the words. But he didn’t tell this to anyone. He was afraid to tell his class teacher or even his mother. He was afraid that he might have to wear spectacles like his grandmother. He thought that if he wore them, everyone would make fun of him and laugh at him.
One day a letter came through the post. Rabbit’s mother was cooking. So she asked Rabbit to read it out loud for her. The letter was from Rabbit’s grandmother. Rabbit opened the letter and stared at it. It was written in very small handwriting and looked like rows of ants. Rabbit tried to identify any word at all, but he couldn’t.
“Why are you not reading it?” Rabbit’s mother wanted to know. “Grandma’s handwriting is hard to read,” Rabbit lied but there was no fooling his mother. Rabbit’s mother took the letter and looked at it. “You can’t see too clearly, can you?” asked Rabbit’s mother, after observing him for awhile. “We will have to get your eyes checked today.”
Rabbit’s worst fear became a reality! The doctor who checked his eyes, asked him to wear spectacles. Rabbit came home and cried. “I am not used to wearing these!” he cried. “But very soon you’ll get used to them and after that you won’t even feel that you are wearing them,” promised Rabbit’s mother. But the real reason Rabbit was upset was because he didn’t want to wear them to school. He thought that others would make fun of him and he didn’t want that to happen.
The next day before Rabbit went to school, wearing his new bright red spectacles his mother gave him a tight hug and assured that everything would be alright. Rabbit waved to his mother and as soon as she was out of sight, he quickly removed his spectacles and put them inside his bag.
That morning Ms. Owl told the class that she was going to give them a surprise test. The whole class groaned. She handed out the test papers to everyone and told them that she would collect the answer sheets after some time. Rabbit stared at his question paper. He took great effort to read the ÀUVW TXHVWLRQ %\ WKH WLPH KH ÀQLVKHG just reading all the questions, the time was up.
Rabbit stared at his empty answer sheet, not knowing what to do. When the teacher came to collect Rabbit’s answer sheet, she was shocked. “Why didn’t you answer a single question, Rabbit? This test was not that hard!” Rabbit looked down as tears welled
XS LQ KLV H\HV ´%\ WKH WLPH , ÀQLVKHG reading all the questions, the time was over!” he cried.
“But why did you take so long to read the questions?” asked Ms. Owl. “Do you ÀQG LW KDUG WR UHDG EHFDXVH \RX GRQ·W know the words?” “No, I can’t see too clearly,” cried Rabbit. “My mother took me to a doctor to get my eyes checked and he asked me to wear spectacles!”
“So where are your spectacles?” asked Ms. Owl. “They are in my bag,” answered Rabbit. “Rabbit, by keeping your spectacles in your bag, you are not going to see things clearly,” Ms. Owl shook her head. “I don’t want to wear them because everyone will laugh at me!” sobbed Rabbit.
“There is nothing to laugh about it! ,I DQ\RQH KDV DQ\ GLIÀFXOW\ LQ VHHLQJ RU
KHDULQJ WKLQJV FOHDUO\ RU DQ\ GLIÀFXOW\ in speaking, then no one should ever laugh or make fun of them. These are things that can happen to anyone. Therefore we should help and support DQ\RQH ZKR KDV DQ\ VXFK GLIÀFXOW\ ,I you laugh at anyone with such issues, it will only make you a horrible person! Do you all understand?” Ms. Owl asked from the class and everyone nodded.
“Now put on your spectacles and do the test, Rabbit. I will give you time to write your answers,” said Ms. Owl and Rabbit wore his bright red spectacles and looked at the question paper. He was surprised to see every single word clearly and easy to read. The questions were very easy and Rabbit quickly read and answered all the questions correctly. He was so happy at how everything looked so clear through his new spectacles.
That day when Rabbit went home after school, he told his mother about everything that happened at school and also how all his friends told him that he looked very cute in his new spectacles. “It doesn’t even feel like I am wearing them anymore!” laughed Rabbit. “Once, I even searched for my spectacles while still wearing them!” Rabbit was already in love with his new pair of red spectacles and he knew that he would always wear and look after it carefully.